Not Web 3?
I hear you SCREAMING at me.
verbalshadow are you fucking insane? Hive is quite possibly the only REAL Web 3 out there.
And you are right. Compared to the other "Web 3" alternatives out there. Hive has clearly set itself up for success to become the winner in a game that a lot of tech investors think they own. They don't yet understand that they are the weakness in the system they're building. Or worse, they do and they in it for the fast cash.
Let us pull this on hold for a few minutes. Because I think we are playing the wrong game. This will make more sense later, hopefully.
Back to the Beginning.
The Internet as we know it is the nexus of many inventions. ARPAnet, TCP/IP, and the World Wide Web. This is our starting point, the Web was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and nearly everything the average person does on the Internet is on the Web today.
In Tim Berners-Lee's original proposal, he has a lot to say on why and how the web should work. Here is a chunk of important stuff, so you don't have to read the whole proposal, but you should.
- Remote access across networks.
CERN is distributed, and access from remote machines is essential.- Heterogeneity
Access is required to the same data from different types of system (VM/CMS, Macintosh, VAX/VMS, Unix)- Non-Centralisation
Information systems start small and grow. They also start isolated and then merge. A new system must allow existing systems to be linked together without requiring any central control or coordination.- Access to existing data
If we provide access to existing databases as though they were in hypertext form, the system will get off the ground quicker. This is discussed further below.- Private links
One must be able to add one's own private links to and from public information. One must also be able to annotate links, as well as nodes, privately.- Bells and Whistles
Storage of ASCII text, and display on 24x80 screens, is in the short term sufficient, and essential. Addition of graphics would be an optional extra with very much less penetration for the moment.- Data analysis
An intriguing possibility, given a large hypertext database with typed links, is that it allows some degree of automatic analysis. It is possible to search, for example, for anomalies such as undocumented software or divisions which contain no people. It is possible to generate lists of people or devices for other purposes, such as mailing lists of people to be informed of changes. It is also possible to look at the topology of an organisation or a project, and draw conclusions about how it should be managed, and how it could evolve. This is particularly useful when the database becomes very large, and groups of projects, for example, so interwoven as to make it difficult to see the wood for the trees.
In a complex place like CERN, it's not always obvious how to divide people into groups. Imagine making a large three-dimensional model, with people represented by little spheres, and strings between people who have something in common at work.
Now imagine picking up the structure and shaking it, until you make some sense of the tangle: perhaps, you see tightly knit groups in some places, and in some places weak areas of communication spanned by only a few people. Perhaps a linked information system will allow us to see the real structure of the organisation in which we work.- Live links
The data to which a link (or a hot spot) refers may be very static, or it may be temporary. In many cases at CERN information about the state of systems is changing all the time. Hypertext allows documents to be linked into "live" data so that every time the link is followed, the information is retrieved. If one sacrifices portability, it is possible so make following a link fire up a special application, so that diagnostic programs, for example, could be linked directly into the maintenance guide.- Non requirements
Discussions on Hypertext have sometimes tackled the problem of copyright enforcement and data security. These are of secondary importance at CERN, where information exchange is still more important than secrecy. Authorisation and accounting systems for hypertext could conceivably be designed which are very sophisticated, but they are not proposed here.
In cases where reference must be made to data which is in fact protected, existing file protection systems should be sufficient.
And now you are thinking.
So, you are insane.
Probably, but that has nothing to do with the issue. Look at the list and the notes again. This is a description of HIVE.
☑️ Remote access across networks
☑️ Heterogeneity
☑️ Non-Centralisation
☑️ Access to existing data
☑️ Private links
☑️ Bells and Whistles
☑️ Data analysis
☑️ Live links
☑️ Non requirements
Then we mix in Micropayments which were also being envisioned during the early 1990s.
AND BAM HIVE is really Web 1.0.
The END.
So HIVE isn't Web 3 or Web 3.0. Stop saying it is. Please, stop saying it is. It is not Web 3. It's Web 1.0 reborn. This time with a community and technology that can support the dreams of its people.